The Rule of Law in the Reform of Legal Education : Teaching the Legal Mind in Japanese Law Schools

a. The Rule of Law is at the heart of the present legal reform. b. There is an international consensus about basic elements of the Rule of Law. c. Legal methods are central to the Rule of Law. But different legal methods are used to realize the Rule of Law. d. Teaching legal methods, i.e., teaching to think like a lawyer, is at the heart of that which is professional in legal education. e. The present legal reform invites Japanese law schools to teach legal methods

The New Japanese Law Schools

Japan is in the process of implementing a comprehensive reform of its justice system. At the heart of the reform is a complete overhaul of the system of legal education. The new system is intended to increase substantially the number of lawyers in the country. On April 1, 2004 as many as 72 new law schools are to come into existence. Japanese legal education is shifting from a German-inspired law faculty approach to an American-style law school system. Based on first-hand observations, this article discusses the present and future system of Japanese legal education with reference to its foreign counterparts

Evaluation of T1 relaxation time in prostate cancer and benign prostate tissue using a Modified Look-Locker inversion recovery sequence

Purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of T1 relaxation time (T1) for differentiating prostate cancer (PCa) from benign tissue as well as high- from low-grade PCa. Twenty-three patients with suspicion for PCa were included in this prospective study. 3 T MRI including a Modified Look-Locker inversion recovery sequence was acquired. Subsequent targeted and systematic prostate biopsy served as a reference standard. T1 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in PCa and reference regions without malignancy as well as high- and low-grade PCa were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The performance of T1, ADC value, and a combination of both to differentiate PCa and reference regions was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. T1 and ADC value were lower in PCa compared to reference regions in the peripheral and transition zone (p < 0.001). ROC analysis revealed high AUCs for T1 (0.92; 95%-CI, 0.87-0.98) and ADC value (0.97; 95%-CI, 0.94 to 1.0) when differentiating PCa and reference regions. A combination of T1 and ADC value yielded an even higher AUC. The difference was statistically significant comparing it to the AUC for ADC value alone (p = 0.02). No significant differences were found between high- and low-grade PCa for T1 (p = 0.31) and ADC value (p = 0.8). T1 relaxation time differs significantly between PCa and benign prostate tissue with lower T1 in PCa. It could represent an imaging biomarker for PCa

The presynaptic ribbon maintains vesicle populations at the hair cell afferent fiber synapse

The ribbon is the structural hallmark of cochlear inner hair cell (IHC) afferent synapses, yet its role in information transfer to spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) remains unclear. We investigated the ribbon’s contribution to IHC synapse formation and function using KO mice lacking RIBEYE. Despite loss of the entire ribbon structure, synapses retained their spatiotemporal development and KO mice had a mild hearing deficit. IHCs of KO had fewer synaptic vesicles and reduced exocytosis in response to brief depolarization; a high stimulus level rescued exocytosis in KO. SGNs exhibited a lack of sustained excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). We observed larger postsynaptic glutamate receptor plaques, potentially compensating for the reduced EPSC rate in KO. Surprisingly, large-amplitude EPSCs were maintained in KO, while a small population of low-amplitude slower EPSCs was increased in number. The ribbon facilitates signal transduction at physiological stimulus levels by retaining a larger residency pool of synaptic vesicles.</jats:p

Caveolin-3 differentially orchestrates cholinergic and serotonergic constriction of murine airways

The mechanisms of controlling airway smooth muscle (ASM) tone are of utmost clinical importance as inappropriate constriction is a hallmark in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Receptors for acetylcholine and serotonin, two relevant mediators in this context, appear to be incorporated in specialized, cholesterol-rich domains of the plasma membrane, termed caveolae due to their invaginated shape. The structural protein caveolin-1 partly accounts for anchoring of these receptors. We here determined the role of the other major caveolar protein, caveolin-3 (cav-3), in orchestrating cholinergic and serotonergic ASM responses, utilizing newly generated cav-3 deficient mice. Cav-3 deficiency fully abrogated serotonin-induced constriction of extrapulmonary airways in organ baths while leaving intrapulmonary airways unaffected, as assessed in precision cut lung slices. The selective expression of cav-3 in tracheal, but not intrapulmonary bronchial epithelial cells, revealed by immunohistochemistry, might explain the differential effects of cav-3 deficiency on serotonergic ASM constriction. The cholinergic response of extrapulmonary airways was not altered, whereas a considerable increase was observed in cav-3â -/- intrapulmonary bronchi. Thus, cav-3 differentially organizes serotonergic and cholinergic signaling in ASM through mechanisms that are specific for airways of certain caliber and anatomical position. This may allow for selective and site-specific intervention in hyperreactive states

Immunosurveillance of lung melanoma metastasis in EBI-3-deficient mice mediated by CD8+ T cells.

EBV-induced gene 3 (EBI-3) codes for a soluble type I receptor homologous to the p40 subunit of IL-12 that is expressed by APCs following activation. In this study, we assessed the role of EBI-3 in a model of lung melanoma metastasis. Intravenous injection of the B16-F10 cell line resulted in a significant reduction of lung tumor metastasis in EBI-3(-/-) recipient mice compared with wild-type mice. The immunological finding accompanying this effect was the expansion of a newly described cell subset called IFN-gamma producing killer dendritic cells associated with CD8(+) T cell responses in the lung of EBI-3(-/-) mice including IFN-gamma release and TNF-alpha-induced programmed tumor cell death. Depletion of CD8(+) T cells as well as targeting T-bet abrogated the protective effects of EBI-3 deficiency on lung melanoma metastases. Finally, adoptive transfer of EBI-3(-/-) CD8(+) T cells into tumor bearing wild-type mice inhibited lung metastasis in recipient mice. Taken together, these data demonstrate that targeting EBI-3 leads to a T-bet-mediated antitumor CD8(+) T cell responses in the lung

It\u27s the Law! Applying the Law is the Missing Measure of Civil Law / Common Law Convergence

It’s the Law! The application of law to facts is a measure of convergence of common and civil law systems of civil procedure that is missing from our program. The previous session addressed “Getting Straight to the Facts” and “Getting Results.” Facts and results are fine, but what of the law and of its application? Should not applying law have pride of place in systems of civil justice? Should not it be the measure of convergence? The measure of convergence that I propose is whether methods of applying law to facts are converging. Applying law to facts is the principal purpose of every system of modern civil justice. A successful method of applying law to facts serves essential functions of legal systems. It helps parties foresee how law will be applied to their lives. Should they have disputes, it helps parties resolve those disputes before bringing suits or, once lawsuits are brought, before those suits are determined. Of course, a method of applying law to facts determines the outcomes of disputes. The method of applying law to facts can facilitate appellate review of court decisions. It can help determine the res judicata effect of those decisions for subsequent disputes. There is no sign of convergence between German and American methods of applying law to facts. The German method shows success and stability. It is the Relationstechnik or relationship technique. It has been in use throughout Germany, little changed, since adoption of the Code of Civil Procedure of 1877. It was in use in parts of Germany before that. There is no single American method. There have been, instead, numerous American methods used in different state and federal courts. American methods have vacillated between convergence and divergence among themselves. They have shown little stability and less success. The German relationship technique has been successful, while American methods have been not been, because it has solved and American methods have not solved, what this paper refers to as the interdependency problem. Applying law to facts requires that laws be determined and facts found. These two findings are interdependent

Legal Certainty and Legal Methods: A European Alternative to American Legal Indeterminacy?

Americans are resigned to a high level of legal indeterminacy. This Article shows that Europeans do not accept legal indeterminacy and instead have made legal certainty a general principle of their law. This Article uses the example of the German legal system to show how German legal methods strive to realize this general European principle. It suggests that these methods are opportunities for Americans to develop their own system to reduce legal indeterminacy and to increase legal certainty

The Professional in Legal Education: Foreign Perspectives

Japan is about to change its system of legal education. In April 2004 Japan will introduce law schools. Law schools are to occupy an intermediary place between the present undergraduate faculties of law and the national Legal Training and Research Institute. The law faculties are to continue to offer general undergraduate education in law, while the law schools in combination with the national Institute are to provide professional legal education. A principal goal of the change is to produce more lawyers. Law schools are charged with providing practical education especially for fostering legal professionals. But just what is professional legal education? And how and where is it to be accomplished? There are recurring issues of legal education around the world. This article focuses on what professional education is and how it is conveyed in Germany and the United States. It puts in comparative perspective some of the choices that Japan is facing in deciding what to include in professional education and where to provide it. The article sets out the issue in general terms and then seriatum the German and American approaches

Are Your Click-Wrap Agreements Valid?—Internet Contracting in the Global Electronic Age: Comparative Perspectives for Taiwan

Addresses the issue of standard terms in click-wrap and shrink-wrap licenses generally and in some detail how the laws of Taiwan, Germany, the European Union, the United States and Japan